The Farm House- Summer Visit

It's good to go back and look at the summer.  Overall, it was all spaced out nicely.
The next week, we headed to my parents house to spend a little time in the country.  

My mom took us to this Bird Park.  I highly recommend it!!

It was so neat!  Picture overload...

This first one shows you the sticks that you hold for the parakeets to come and land on you.

 Then we gave Ben a stick.

I think he was OK with it for a split second....

 ... and then terrified & his scream scared the bird away.

 Then one landed on him...

 WHY WOULD YOU TAKE ME TO A PLACE LIKE THIS?!

 I couldn't stop taking pictures.

I have ideas of printing some to frame & hang.

They were so beautiful.  It was one of those times when I was stunned at God's artistry.
Their colors were brilliant.

 We saw lots of other birds and ducks from around the world, some endangered ones too.  Peter liked finding those.

See- the t-shirts- our summer team shirt.

We enjoyed a few days back at my parents house. The kids enjoyed the dogs (b/c we are not dog people).  I love this pic b/c you can tell they are talking to each other about who knows what.

 Ben decided he liked my mom on this trip.  She was beside herself.  He's made her wait for it.

 This pic is blurry but still love it- it looks like it belongs in a magazine.

Country Americana Summer.

 It was Mike's mom's birthday while we were there.  Also the day of the annual meteor shower.  She so kindly agreed to drive down on her birthday with Ski & Mike.  We had dinner, did presents, and all laid out in the front yard to watch the meteors (which weren't overly impressive).  It was funny- we all felt sorta young and silly.  Which can never be bad.

 A final smile with a dangy front tooth.

 This may be one of my favorite pics of the summer.

They just played outside together, used their imagination, got exercise, explored, ate popsicles.
It was great.

One of their cats shares my love of physical touch, so he came and curled up on top of me.  

I appreciated it.

 We enjoyed filling our tanks with summertime.  Ah, warm carefree summertime, we love you!

A trip to DC

 In early Aug, Mike had a day off work. So we took the chance to go to DC for the day.

It was a perfect day- cool weather in the low 70s and overcast.

We visited the Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the Museum of Natural History.

 This sweetie pie looooves to ride in the back pack with his Daddy.

Is he not so squishy?  We all want to eat him.

 I like it that I am hugging Peter. I should hug him more often. I love you, PT.

 We sported our tie dye t-shirts to this "event" too. It felt like they became our team shirts for the summer & the kids got excited about wearing them together.  Maybe we need matching/coordination kid t-shirts each summer!?!  :)

How pretty is the Washington Monument as a backdrop?!  

And how telling are these pics?!  Ben has an opinion.  And we all give in.  B/c he is so dang cute. And he knows how to scream.

He wants to do it all himself.  He doesn't need his bubby & sissy's help.  Don't be fooled.  He adores them too.

The details... I love the pink, blue, and green shoes.

 Ben had ridden in the backpack to the Monument.  We let him out to walk around a little.  He was NOT getting back in.  He saw this dark path circle around the monument and he was walking it.  He walked it the whole way and he was proud.  Look at that face.

And they all watched him & coddled him.

 Because we waited for this baby.  And prayed for this baby.  And we will enjoy him & see God's goodness & humor in putting this sweet boy in our family.

We went on to the Museum for lunch and saw exhibits there.  Peter really loves cheetahs, wild animals, etc so we all enjoyed the mammal exhibit (plus this shark jaw!).

It was really nice but then we were done.  It was a long (but do-able!) walk back to the car- there are improvements each year- PTL!

Fun to have an extra day with our man, and then still have a weekend.